Harry Potter and the Crossing Stars
by oldfashionedromantic
Summary: Harry/ OC Harry met one other person besides Ron and Hermione on the train to Hogwarts. Draco Malfoy's Twin sister Layanna, a woman with many secrets to hide...


**Harry Potter and the Crossing Stars**

**Chapter one**

**Arriving at Hogwarts**

The buzz was going around the train that the boy who lived was on board. People were all searching for him and yet he was alone. The other cars were full of friends sitting with one another chattering excitedly about the famous passenger or the coming term. Yet the main topic of conversation was a lonely eleven-year-old boy all by himself at the end of the last car. No one wanted to sit with him and those that did find him gawked at him like some caged animal and pointed at the glass. He had taken to hiding from them in the corner of his car and staring out the window at the world going by.

Harry Potter sat alone looking out the window at the passing countryside as he sped off toward a future that he could never dream of. He couldn't believe he was heading off to a school where he would learn magic and not the birthday party parlor tricks. Real magic, where he would use a wand, bend over a bubbling cauldron and perhaps even fly. His excitement was mounting, and he wished he had someone to share it with but he was all alone in this car. Not that he really minded. He was used to being alone. In Muggle School he had always been the oddball, the nerdy bookworm too timid to really talk to the other kids.

People were going to avoid him either way it seemed, he only hoped the bullying wouldn't start too. He had been called names like, 'Potter the Rotter' in school and he had always hated that the most. It had made him a loner and a social outcast and he already had to put up with that at home. Harry did not want to have to deal with it at his knew school when he was supposed to be some kind of hero or other. So maybe it was a good thing that he was being left to his own devices, rather than being bombarded with questions about a past he knew next to nothing of.

But still it would have been nice to have someone to share the moment with, knowing this was the beginning of the adventure of a lifetime. Just then in came a young girl, she was blonde and had silver eyes. Harry had to admit she was really rather pretty, kind of like the dolls Aunt Petunia collected. The china ones that she displayed on the mantle, dusting and showing proudly to the world with painted eyes and perfect reflections. Not that anyone cared about them, but still they were nice to look at, really a lovely child to be honest, minus her red puffy eyelids as though she had been weeping.

Harry watched her out of the corner of his eye as she sighed and looked up at the ceiling. She peeked inside, and upon seeing Harry backed away as if she meant to look for somewhere else to sit. But everywhere else was full, he checked on his way over here. So she had nowhere else to go. Harry knew he should not be so thrilled about this because she was having a bad day but at least this way he would have someone to talk to. Harry looked down at his lap and closed his eyes pretending to be deep in thought or asleep whichever would get her to speak first.

"Sorry to bother you, but mind if I sit down?" she asked.

"Not at all, "Harry replied.

She sat down across from him and reached into her pocket pulling out a couple of frog-shaped packets. Harry watched her as she set one on her lap and the other on the bench beside her. Harry wondered what kind of girl would keep a frog in her pocket let alone two of them. She smiled at him and held out one of the packages to him. Harry didn't want to be rude but he wasn't quite sure that he wanted a frog. But he took it anyway to make her at ease and she smiled at him in apparent relief before picking up her own packaged amphibian.

"Are you going to open it or not? She asked, and then laughed at his quizzical look. "It's all right it's chocolate."

Harry laughed along with her and pulled the wrapper off, expecting it to be like the Easter rabbits Dudley got during the holidays. But it opened and the frog leapt out of his hands and hopped out the window. Harry blinked twice and looked down at his empty hands, wondering where his candy had gone. The girl shook her head and put her hand on Harry's knee gently, before gripping her own frog and tearing its head off cleaner than a guillotine. She then handed the head to him and stuck one of the still-wriggling legs in her mouth.

"I'm Layanna, by the way Layanna Malfoy." She said as she chewed off a flipper.

"Harry, Harry Potter." He said, licking out the nougat in the eye.

"I know, but it's nice to meet you anyway." She said.

"Of course you do." Harry said dully.

"Well it's not like you're not some kind of legend around here Harry." She said, grinning.

"I guess." He said.

Harry noticed that despite her school robes, there was a touch of color in the form of a silver locket. It seemed to glow and she put her hand over it quickly to hide it from his curious eyes. It was a locket in the shape of a key, with strange markings much like the Chinese ones Harry had seen in Muggle history class. He was curios but had enough manners not to ask about it. Still she saw him looking at it and smiled fingering the trinket. She smiled and took it off, holding it out so he could have a better look. Harry was glad she missed the shudder that went through her as she quickly put it back on.

She never took that necklace off for a very good reason that she never told people. It was perhaps her darkest secret. It was this thing that she had and one that she kept close to her heart and never let anyone in on. Harry noticed the way she had her fist around it, and he thought it was strange but didn't say anything. Instead he sucked the filling out of the other eyeball before biting down on the chocolate frog's snout. The girl smiled and calm down, thinking of a way to explain to Harry that she needed the necklace and decided on the obvious lie.

"My mom gave it to me, for my birthday." She told him, "It is to show me she loves me as much as my twin, even though Drake's a total mama's boy."

"Oh, you have a twin brother?" asked Harry with interest.

"Draco, I call him 'Drake' because he hates it." She winked at him.

Harry laughed, "Like when I call my cousin fuddy-duddy because his name is Dudley. "He replied.

Layanna smiled shyly at him and he smiled back, this time they said nothing as the sliding door opened. Harry watched as this time two people came in, a red-headed boy and a brown bushy-haired girl who sat down next to him, and Layanna. They were arguing over something and Harry shook his head as he concentrated on chewing the caramel tongue out of the frog. The girl looked at Harry and Layanna and smiled while the redhead stuffed handfuls of Bertie Bots ever flavor beans into his gob. Behind them soon came a third boy holding a toad in both of his plump hands.

His name was Neville Longbottom and he said nothing, just sat there holding his toad and talking to it. Stroking it as though it were a soft cuddly thing rather than a bumpy, slimy creature, occasionally he would steal a sweet from the redhead. He was digging into them by the handfuls, and had syrup all over his round cheeks. There were crumbs all over his robes. The redhead was to be blunt a sloppy mess, and dropping candy all over his lap. The girl had her nose in a book that looked thick enough to make a wall out of. He suddenly stopped eating and made a face.

Harry laughed as he gagged on one of them. "Blech, vomit," He chocked.

"Well that's what you get for eating like a ruddy pig," chided the girl at his side.

"Oh shut up." He snapped tossing one at her.

The girl rolled her brown eyes, and upon plucking the candy out of her hair sniffed it before she tossed the bean back at the redhead. He leaned forward and caught it in his mouth with a cheeky grin. Layanna smirked at them and went back to chewing the flipper of the other leg. The redhead then tried to balance a pumpkin pasty on his nose and failing miserably. His companion laughed at him and took it before stuffing it into her mouth. Harry and the girl at his side chose to go along with what they were doing and ignored them and kept their attention on each other.

Harry was grinning with chocolate-covered teeth at his triumph of retrieving the hard-candy tongue out of his treat. Layanna wiped her mouth too wiping off a bit of marshmallow cream from the frog's belly. He wiped his mouth and turned Layanna was flipping over the card from the frog. She smiled and showed it to Harry, who looked down at the card and took it. Inside was the picture of Albus Dumbledore, smiling with a little twinkle in his eyes. Harry turned over the card seeing the description and then turned it over.

"The picture's gone!" Harry exclaimed.

"Of course, it is." Said the brown haired girl, "They move about everyone knows that."

"Apparently not, squirrel head" Layanna snapped, "Harry they move about here, my brother is _always _leaving pictures."

"Oh." Harry replied.

"She's right I'm Hermione Granger and you are?" she looked at the blonde.

"Layanna Malfoy, and I am still going to call you squirrel." She looked at the redhead, "Don't tell me, and let me guess. Redhead, freckles and a penchant for gluttony, you must be a Weasel."

The redhead growled, "It is Weasley, Ron Weasley."

She scoffed, "Whatever Weasel." She turned to Harry looking out the window she saw that the train was stopping, "Oh we are here, "

Just as they got out of the car the toad the boy was holding did a leap that made the runaway chocolate frog envious. Neville yelped and bent down to grab the creature but it ran too fast for him to catch. He leapt forward in a desperate attempt but he simply landed on his pudgy belly, his black cowlicks hanging on his face. Layanna sighed and lifted the boy up, she didn't like him already. Her father had taught her that if a wizard could not stand on his own he was useless. Still she felt bad for the boy when he started sniveling and rubbed his shoulder.

"Don't worry, he'll turn up soon." She said.

"You think so?" he sniffed.

"Oh sure, toads are funny that way. They are sort of like dogs; they always come back to their master." She assured him.

Neville smiled at her gratefully, wiping his snotty nose on his sleeve and allowed her to step off the train to a dock at nighttime. It was truly beautiful, the yellow-orange light of lanterns held up by magic glowed above the deep navy blue of the water. She listened to the gently lapping water as she saw a huge man coming to greet them. As he appeared, the lake was filled with rows and rows of boats, pulled by no one. She heard the gasps of other student's as they stood in shock at their first real sight of magic being put to use.

Layanna did not show it but she was in awe too, she had never seen this kind of magic before. True, her father had done little tricks like making puffs of rainbow colored smoke burst from the tip of his wand. But that was child's play naturally meant for the amusement of two young toddlers. That was amateur hour compared to this and she felt her spine tingle with anticipation at what was to come next in her magical career. Her excitement built as she noticed the carriages not too far off the side of the lake. They were for the older students she knew, to get them to the school.

But the curious thing was that they had no driver and never would, they were pulled by the magic aura that surrounded the mote and castle. Layanna clapped her hand over the locket around her neck, feeling the vibrations on her necklace. It glowed and her muscles tightened for a moment and she cursed. This was her secret, all wizards were born with power of course, but hers she had been born with too much. The locket kept her in check so that she never lost control of herself, but when the power was drained it felt as if someone was tearing into her.

It happened at random and she could never tell when it was coming all she knew was that it did and it hurt really bad. Layanna was grateful that this spasm only lasted a few seconds, sometimes they lasted for hours. It really depended on how long it had been between draining sessions. If it had happened earlier that day then they were short and quick. Something akin to a shot, sharp and hot but not unbearable, if it had been more than an hour or so then sometimes the pain would last for an entire day and was agonizing. Luckily she was able to stand there and take it without screaming though she did moan.

"Hey you all right," Harry called from inside.

"Yeah thanks I gotta find my brother." She called back.

Harry stepped outside followed by Ron and Hermione where Hagrid was waiting with lantern in hand. He greeted them and then the four of them, Harry, Ron, Hermione and Neville got into one boat, leaving Layanna alone to find a way over. She saw her twin brother standing over with his two stooges Crabbe and Goyle. Layanna went over to them and when the cronies were looking elsewhere at children to heckle Draco embraced her with a little grin. Layanna smiled, her twin was a real sod sometimes but he secretly loved her too.

"Hey Draco good to see you too," She said.

"Don't read too much into it Laya," he sneered though she knew he was bluffing to save face.

"Sure," She said and hopped into the boat, "You coming Drake?"

Draco rolled his eyes and got in, smirking, "hope you don't puke." He jibed.

Layanna sighed; she had always hated boats and got seasick easily. This was the one major part of first year she wasn't looking forward to. Draco was laughing behind her at the thought of his sister throwing up. Layanna sighed and tried not to vomit as the water sloshed up the side. Turning she saw Hagrid leading the first boat with the four others in them. She smiled at Harry who smiled back and then just like that the journey continued. It might have passed without incident if Goyle had not dropped a cupcake into the water and decided he could not live without it.

He leaned so far over that he tipped the boat nearly over, unsuccessful as he was to rescue the cake from the ravenous water. He threw himself back on the boat, causing it to rock so violently that Layanna leaned forward and puked violently. The sweet she had eaten came up all in the water and she groaned. Draco seated beside her wrinkled his nose in disgust as he rubbed her back. She looked at him with a weak smile and elbowed Goyle in the face. He howled as his fat button nose was stuck back into his face, as though it were a real button that had been pushed.

"Stupid git…" she hissed and her brother laughed lightly.

She then sat back up as the fog bank ahead of them began to separate as though it were a curtain being yanked aside by invisible hands. Layanna heard the students gasp as the boats slowed to the edge of a wooden bridge-like dock. She climbed off the boat, and turned to face the massive groundskeeper who was looking down at the students with a smile that would have made St. Nick himself look grim. Layanna felt Draco come up behind her, place a hand on her shoulder and she turned to him.

"Is this really it?' she asked.

"Yeah," Draco replied.

Layanna looked up at the massive castle and felt her heart start and stop again three times. It was elegant and imposing the way she had imagined, with warmly lit windows and she could hear light, lively music coming from inside. Harry and the others came to stand next to them and she heard Hermione prattling on about the architecture of the building as if anyone even cared. Layanna rolled her eyes as Hagrid knocked on the drawbridge three times. Each knock ended with a resounding boom, as loud as a thunderclap. His hands so huge they dusted the massive piece of wood as easily as if it were a cotton throw-rug.

Then the bridge lowered and clattered with a bang, and they followed him into the hallway where a woman in a witch's hat was standing. Hagrid stopped in front of her, and then gestured to the new students with a bow. That was when it all began the woman stood in front of them and said three words quite clearly.

"Welcome to Hogwarts."

**For Hayley**

**A/N: Do you guys like Layanna? Yes? No? Let me Know.**


End file.
